Principal's Message
We are looking forward to an exciting February, as we have many activities planned for the month; please be certain to read all of the details in this month’s newsletter.
Due to the extreme cold weather conditions on Friday, February 3rd, grade 3 to 6 will now go to Lac Beauchamp for Winter Fun Day on Thursday, February 2nd in the afternoon.
February is Black History month, and students will learn more on this topic during the month. As a school; each class will study the life of a famous black Canadian – and then make a short video clip of the person. The video clips will then be shown at our next assembly; so that all students will have the opportunity to learn about 23 inspirational Black Canadians.
Please remember that school fees are due by February 28th. Payment is done through the school portal. Please be sure to pay your school fees on time. If you require a payment plan; please contact Naomie: nceraqui@wqsb.qc.ca .It takes time to get the approval from the Ministry; and it helps us.
Kindergarten registration is taking place this month. It is very important to register for your child (5 yrs. Old by September 30th) at this time, as it takes time to get the approval from the Ministry; and it helps us to plan for next year.
Have a wonderful month everyone.
If you know someone who has a child starting kindergarten in the fall (5 years old by September 30th), please ask them to start the registration process.
It can take several weeks to get your child’s eligibility to attend English school. Contact Julie Caron at jcaron@wqsb.qc.ca to get the paperwork.
Then you must go to the Western Quebec School Board on February 8th or 9th to complete the registration process.
Events at School
GRADE 4 VACCINATIONS
On February 1st students in grade 4 will receive one dose of hepatitis A and B vaccine (Twinrix Junior®) and one dose of HPV vaccine (Gardasil 9®).
Nurses from the CLSC will be at the school in the morning to administer the vaccines.
LAC BEAUCHAMP TRIP – WINTER FUN DAY
Greater Gatineau School will hold our Winter Fun Days at Lac Beauchamp. The outing will include a mixture of cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and tubing. The Centre provides the tubes for the tubing, cross-country skis, and snowshoes. Unfortunately the lake is not frozen so there will be no skating.
- Thursday, February 2 – AM – Kindergarten, Grade 1+2
- Thursday, February 2 – PM – Grade 3 to 6
See Lac Beauchamp Winter Fun Day Letter for more details.
STAFF APPRECIATION WEEK
Monday, February 6th to Friday, February 10th, is Staff Appreciation Week. Students are asked to remember to appreciate their teachers and staff at Greater Gatineau School.
MAMMAL STUDY AND ECOLOGY GAMES
During the month of February, our Outdoor education consultant will be leading Mammal Study and Ecology Games with the students from the grade 3 classes.
- Fournier – February 9
- Schindel – February 10
- Pare – February 13
- McClelland – February 17
VALENTINE’S DAY
Everyone is invited to wear red or pink on Tuesday, February 14th to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
SKI AT SCHOOL – Ski at School
Grade 5 + 6 will have their turn to practice cross country skiing from January 31st to February 21st.
Stone – February 9 + 14- Everson – February 8 + 15
- Schultz – February 10 + 17
- Birch – February 9 + 16
- Fama – January 31 + February 14
- Dooling – February 13 + 17
The grade 1 + 2 classes have their turn starting after February 21st.
- Sauve – February 22 + 28
- Pare – February 22 + March 3
- Sanford – February 23 + March 14
- Geisterfer – February 24 + March 3
- MD – February 24 + 27
- Golding – March 1 + 15
- Given – March 1 + 15
- Carey – March 2 + 13
Everyone from grade 1 to 6 will get a chance to learn this fun activity. Unfortunately the program is not available for Kindergarten.
QUINZEE BUILDING
As part of our outdoor education programming Grade 5 classes will be building snow shelters in a nearby reserve. Students will take a short hike from the school to the reserve.
This is a hands-on study where the students will learn how to build a Quinzee (snow shelter) and other winter skills to use in the outdoors. The outdoor education specialist, Alan Earwaker, will be joining us for these activities.
- Everson – February 28th
- Schultz – March 1st
- Stone – March 2nd
100th DAY OF SCHOOL
On Wednesday, February 15th we will be celebrating the 100th day of school.
Kindergarten and Cycle 1 teachers will be doing activities with their students to mark this day.
SCHOOL FEES
The school fees are now available on the portal under the FINANCE tab. Payments can be made online, and are due for February 28th.
See School Fees page for details about cost breakdown and “how-to” sign up with your online banking.
Please contact Naomie at nceraqui@wqsb.qc.ca or (819) 663-4842 x2 with questions, or if you would like to make an appointment to pay in person with cash or interac or to set up a payment plan.
LOGO CONTEST
We are in the process of choosing a new logo to represent the Greater Gatineau Grizzlies. We are looking to our students to help inspire the new logo.
See logo contest flyer for details.
STUDENT COUNCIL
Greater Gatineau’s Student Council Club is well underway. Our Student Council serves as a liaison between students and teachers to ensure our student’s needs are heard.
Our members are working hard organizing special Valentine’s Day treats for the school and working closely with administration to organize our next peace bucket reward.
The council is comprised of students from Grades 5 and 6. The meet weekly during lunch to discuss issues pertaining to student and school needs.
Members have many responsibilities which includes planning social events and activities, designing posters and bulletin boards to promote positive school climate, organizing lunchtime clubs (comic, crafts, peer tutoring), planning “Spirit Week” as well as holding fundraisers.
MONTHLY ASSEMBLY
Our next assembly will be on Wednesday, March 1st, where we will celebrate the students who have shown the chosen virtue throughout the month.
Please remember to wear your purple GG shirt or your new Grizzlies shirt for all of our monthly assemblies. This creates a sense of community at school.
February is CARING month. We hope to see students making an effort to be caring towards one another. 
PEACE LEARNING CIRCLES AT HOME
“Now I Am” is a game to explore our feelings and recognizing those feelings in others.
- Whisper a feeling or emotion into a participant’s ear
- have them act out that feeling or emotion without using words
- other participants try to guess the feeling
- talk about the nonverbal cues we can see in others so we know how they are feeling
- talk about a time that you experienced that feeling or emotion
Some examples of feelings;
● fear ● nervousness ● frustration ● itchiness ● tired ● stubborn ● surprise ● embarrassed ● love ● anger ● happiness ● hope ● uncomfortable
Home & School
Our first event in 2023 is a movie night planned for Friday, February 17. We will be featuring “Lightyear”. Please watch out for a movie flyer that will be coming home soon with your child.
Plantables is back to help support your 2023 growing season. This upcoming fundraiser will allow you to purchase seedlings and have them delivered directly to your door. Stay tuned for more information, including the ordering process.
We are also planning an online auction for early May. If you know of any companies who would like to donate or maybe even your own company, please send us an email.
Staff Appreciation week is February 6-10, the Home & School is organizing daily little gifts for each staff member to show our appreciation of all their hard work.
We will continue to post on our Facebook page, if you haven’t done so already please follow us to stay up to date on upcoming events facebook.com/GreaterGatineau.
We are always looking for new members to join us or ideas for upcoming events, please contact us via email gghomeandschool@gmail.com or through our Facebook page.
The next Home & School meeting will be on Monday, February 13th at 6:30pm. We hold our meetings through Microsoft Teams, please reach out to us via email if you would like to attend.
Daycare
We have three PD days in February. Monday, February 6th, Tuesday, February 7th, and Monday, February 20th are open to all Greater Gatineau students who register before the deadline.
- February 6 – Activities at school – $14.60
- February 7 – Tubing at Domain de l’Ange Gardien – $30.00
- February 20 – Activities at school – $14.60
Please sign up for @ggdaycare2 on the Remind app to get the notifications regarding PD days.
Should you have any questions about our program or to register for the PD days please do not hesitate to contact Jennifer by phone at (819) 663-4842 x3 or e-mail jplaxton@wqsb.qc.ca
Special Notes
WINTERLUDE 2023
The annual Winterlude festival is from February 3rd to 20th this year.
Celebrate Canadian winter fun at this epic festival which takes place in the Ottawa-Gatineau region during the first three weekends of February.
During Winterlude, you can marvel at beautiful ice sculptures, skate on the world-famous Rideau Canal Skateway (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and play till you drop in a gigantic snow playground called Snowflake Kingdom.
Many other Winterlude activities—indoors and outdoors—highlight Canada’s cultural and artistic diversity. Urban sites, museums and special events present special seasonal programming as well as opportunities to connect with Indigenous culture. Most festival activities are free!
KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
The Kindergarten registration will be held at the Western Quebec School Board on February 8th and 9th this year.
Your child must be turning 5 years old before September 30, 2023 to register and attend Kindergarten.
Please email Julie at jcaron@wqsb.qc.ca to request a registration package.
To register you will require
- Certificate of eligibility of the child, parent or sibling declared eligible
- Child’s long form birth certificate with the names of both parents
- Canadian Citizenship for parent who will render the child eligible
- Quebec drivers licence, lease/deed and utility bill
- Child’s last report card if applicable
If you have a child who will be attending kindergarten next year, or know someone who has a child who will attend, you can prepare yourself in advance.
VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
On Friday, February 17th Greater Gatineau will be sending two teams to compete in the WQSB volleyball tournament at Chelsea Elementary School. Students have been working hard on their bumps, sets and serves. We look forward to a fun day of volleyball!
Go Grizzlies, Go!
Free Online Tutoring – Learn Quebec
Students are eligible for free online tutoring. You simply need to register and use your child’s WQSB email and password to log in. Please take advantage of this great opportunity if your child is in need of some extra assistance. For more information; please visit: learnquebec.ca/en/home
FREE ACCESS TO EBOOKS AND AUDIOBOOKS FOR QUEBEC RESIDENTS
All Quebec residents are eligible for a free virtual membership to Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BANQ), the provincial library of Quebec. See link BANQ Ebooks and Audiobooks 2023 for details.
SPARE CLOTHING NEEDED
Do you have some extra pants that your children have grown out of? We would love to have them here at school as our spare supply has run out.
Often when children get wet outside or from a spill, they do not have a change of clothes here at school. We would like to be able to provide them a change of clothes.
Please consider donating 1 pair of clean and gently used pants to the school. All sizes welcome!
Anti-Racism Committee (ARC)
Land acknowledgement
The land on which we gather is traditional unceded Omamiwininiwag (Algonquin) and Anishinabewaki territory .
Featured version of O’Canada for the month of February
Black History Month – All month long
Black History Month is a time for Canadians to celebrate the many achievements and contributions of Black Canadians and their communities who, throughout history, have done so much to make Canada the culturally diverse, compassionate, and prosperous nation it is today.
Groundhog Day – February 2nd
Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2nd and is a tradition started by the Pennsylvania Dutch that states if a groundhog emerges from hibernation to see its shadow, and retreats, six more weeks of winter are ahead.
World Cancer Day – February 4th
World Cancer Day is an international day to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment.
Valentine’s Day – February 14th
Valentine’s day began as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian figures named Saint Valentine and, through later folk traditions, has become a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.
Parinirvana Day – February 15th
Parinirvana Day, also known as Nirvana Day, is celebrated annually to commemorate the death of the Buddha when he attained complete nirvana or parinirvana.
Isra and Mi’raj Begins – February 17th and Ends – February 18th
The Islamic celebration Isra and Mi’raj refers to a miraculous nighttime journey undertaken by the Prophet Muhammad, in two legs.
Shrove Tuesday –February 21st
Shrove Tuesday is the traditional Christian feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday – February 22nd
Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting that marks the first day of Lent, which is the six weeks of penitence before Easter.
Lent begins – February 22nd
The Christian tradition of Lent is a 40 day season of prayer , fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday.
Pink Shirt Day – February 22nd
Pink Shirt Day began when two students took a stand against homophobic bullying after a new student was harassed for wearing pink. We’ve been celebrating Pink Shirt Day in Aotearoa since 2009 and the campaign grows stronger and larger every year.
Tell a Fairy Tale Day – February 26th
Tell A Fairy Tale Day is a worldwide day about fairy tales and telling them.